Geordi is contacted by Bruce Maddox, who needs his help: B-4 is on the verge of a cascade failure and the only way to save him is to remove Data's memories. Before anything can be done, however, someone breaks into Maddox's lab and removes all the Soong-type androids, including B-4.

The Enterprise takes charge of the investigation. A search of the planet's surface comes across a mysterious man who resembles the androids but he manages to evade the security teams. Picard decides to lift the blockade on the planet and sees a ship rendezvous with a cloaked Breen vessel and transfer the androids over.

The Enterprise follows a mysterious ship to the Breen's destination in a largely deserted system. Worf leads a covert team down to the planet, where they meet up with the mysterious man and the pilot of the ship: Noonien Soong, who transferred his consciousness into an android body after his apparent death and stumbled across the Breen while trying to save B-4 himself.

Soong joins the away team in investigating the Breen base, which turns out to be a factory they took possession of which was constructed by Lore to manufacture Soong-type androids to which he could transfer the minds of the Borg he was allied with. Soong and La Forge are captured but Soong bargains for their lives by offering to activate the androids, which the Breen intend to use as non-sentient slaves. Worf and Choudhury are also captured and, when Worf instructs Soong to stop his co-operation, the Breen commander kills Choudhury to force him to continue.

The Enterprise receives a message left by Worf on a time delay, informing them of the situation and advising they destroy the factory. Soong activates the androids but programmes them to attack the Breen, then transfers Data's memories from B-4 into his own body, effectively allowing Data's personality to overwrite his own while leaving his memories intact. The group manage to escape in Soong's ship, the Archeus, and rendezvous with the Enterprise after it has destroyed the facility (although not before the Breen take several inactive androids off the planet).

Data turns down Picard's offer to reactivate his Starfleet commission, instead telling Geordi that Soong discovered that Emil Vaslovik reactivated Juliana Tainer after her apparent death. Data intends to track him down and learn the secret in order to revive Lal.

This article or section is incomplete

This article is marked as lacking essential detail, and needs attention. Information regarding expansion requirements may be found on the article's talk page. Feel free to edit this page to assist with this expansion.